Blockstream Research published a paper on August 6, 2026, identifying Falcon-1024 as the most suitable lattice-based signature scheme for Bitcoin. The assessment compared Falcon-1024 against Dilithium and Hawk, evaluating their performance within the network's constraints.
Falcon-1024 demonstrated a compact size, with a combined public key and signature of 3,073 bytes, compared to 5,261 bytes for Dilithium. The researchers also highlighted the scheme's efficient verification times, which are critical for maintaining node performance.
Despite these advantages, the report outlines significant deployment hurdles. The signing process requires 90 KB of memory, and the scheme relies on complex floating-point arithmetic. Additionally, Falcon-1024 lacks native support for hierarchical deterministic key derivation and awaits final standardization.
Blockstream is simultaneously developing SHRINCS, a hash-based signature approach that reached draft BIP status in late August 2026. This method was tested on the Liquid sidechain, including a transaction in March 2026.
The research suggests a staged transition for quantum-resistant security rather than an immediate implementation. Current Bitcoin security remains unchanged, as no quantum machines capable of compromising existing signatures currently exist.
